Kuralt's Successor? Osgood A Good Bet

NEW YORK — As we head into the weekend, the hot guessing game in TV Land centers on who CBS will pick to replace Charles Kuralt as anchor of Sunday Morning.

Sunday is Kuralt's farewell broadcast.

While many names have been bandied about, sources say the leading candidate now appears to be Charles Osgood.

The erudite, bow-tied Osgood has anchoring experience, he's considered a superb wordsmith, and he has that slightly eccentric personality that CBS wants to carry the weekend show.

In fact, in Osgood's CBS bio, Kuralt calls his colleague "one of the last great broadcast writers."

Osgood, who anchored CBS' morning news from 1987 to 1992, has not appeared on the small screen on a regular basis for about two years. He gave up his anchoring gig to focus on his radio work, which has him broadcasting four times a day on the CBS Radio Network.

Osgood was out of town Wednesday and could not be reached for comment.

According to a CBS insider, there could be a contract problem standing between Osgood and the Sunday Morning job. Osgood's current contract reportedly allows him to do commercials, which is a no-no in the news business. (And CBS News produces Sunday Morning.)

The thinking is, however, that if CBS wants Osgood for the Morning job, the two sides should be able to make it work.